Well I've done it again... I've created yet another blog. I seem to have done this many times over the last few years. It's something that I always appear to go back to, I'm drawn to the art of writing. I love it. However, this time it's for a different purpose. 

The last few years have been a whirlwind to say the least. I studied Psychology with the Open University for a year whilst working full time and cooking a baby. I then decided to sign up to do a L2 Counselling Skills course with the CPCAB when my daughter was 5 weeks old and that was the beginning of my counselling journey. I've completed my L2 and I'm now halfway through my L3 with intent to return to university to finish my studies and qualification. Madness! 

During that time I battled post-natal depression, unbelievable amounts of anxiety and tremendous self-confidence issues. It wasn't exactly what I expected the beginning of motherhood to turn out like. It's not all flowers and happy days you know, although healthcare professionals fail to mention that part. You know, the part about post-natal depression, feeling like you're not bonding with your baby and generally feel like a failure of a mother and a person. It's not pleasant. That's for a whole separate post though. 

What I'm trying to say is, these issues have really shaped me as a person despite it being really shitty at the time. After battling with these, working on myself and feeling a lot better I decided to create The High Spirit Project. Initially this was aimed at mothers and fathers (yes dads can get PND) who have experienced perinatal issues and it was a way in which we can share support services, talk, listen and connect with one another. I then realised that this is actually very useful for all mental health issues so decided not to focus it on one specific area. 

We need to talk about mental health. I repeat. We NEED to talk about mental health. It's happening everywhere, all around us to people we may not expect it to, but it's happening.

I'm hoping through my own personal experiences I can talk to others and prove that there is hope after and during mental health issues. I believe we can work together to make mental health an important topic of conversation and not something that's so alien to people. There are so many incredible projects, services, workshops and just people in general who are trying to make a change. 

I want to be one of those people. I intend to be. 

So if you're suffering or have suffered just know you're not alone. It's shit. It really is. But we can talk, listen and connect to get through the shit. If you want to follow my daily ramblings please go to my Twitter @hickmancourt if not, I'll be back soon for more honest chats around mental health. 

Ciao for now,

Courtney :-)